Description
What is law? The usual answer is that the law is a system of norms. But this answer gives us at best half of the story. The law is a way of relating to one another. We do not do this as lovers or friends and not as people who are interested in obtaining guidance from moral insight. In a legal context, we are cast as 'character masks' (Marx), for example, as 'buyer' and 'seller' or 'landlord' and 'tenant'. We expect to have our claims respected simply because the law has given us rights. We do not want to give any other reason for our behavior than the fact that we have a legal right. Backing rights up with coercive threats indicates that we are willing to accept legal obligations unwillingly. This book offers a conceptual reconstruction of the legal relation on the basis of a critique of legal positivism.
This book offers a conceptual reconstruction of the legal relation on the basis of a critique of legal positivism.
About the Author
Alexander Somek is Professor of Legal Philosophy at Universitat Wien, Austria and Global Affiliated Professor of Law at the University of Iowa, where he previously held the position of the Charles E. Floete Chair in Law. He has been a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, a LAPA fellow, and visiting professor at Princeton University, New Jersey, and at the London School of Economics. He is the author of eleven books.
Reviews
'Alexander Somek, at the height of his powers, has already enjoyed a long and distinguished career. He is, unlike most of us, altogether at home in both worlds - the Anglophone world with its myopia and the Continental European world with its vast perspectives but, all too often, with analysis that falls short of the mark. Alexander Somek brings the best of both worlds together, and his manuscript is a welcome effort to redress the balance in favor of, as he puts it, a post-legal positivist theory of law.' Stanley L. Paulson, Washington University, St. Louis
'A mature masterpiece equaling Hart's Concept of Law or Dworkins Law's Empire in jurisprudential ambition, originality and sophistication, The Legal Relation is the most important Continental European contribution to jurisprudence in the new millennium.' Mattias Kumm, Inge Rennert Proffessor of Law at the New York University School of Law and Professor of Global Public Law in the Berlin Social Science Center
'With this bold and provocative book, Somek brilliantly reimagines legal positivism. Every legal philosopher must read this book. The argument is imaginative, penetrating, and ultimately convincing.' Dennis Patterson, Board of Governors Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School, Camden, New Jersey
Book Information
ISBN 9781316648001
Author Alexander Somek
Format Paperback
Page Count 220
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 310g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 12mm
This book offers a conceptual reconstruction of the legal relation on the basis of a critique of legal positivism.
About the Author
Alexander Somek is Professor of Legal Philosophy at Universitat Wien, Austria and Global Affiliated Professor of Law at the University of Iowa, where he previously held the position of the Charles E. Floete Chair in Law. He has been a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, a LAPA fellow, and visiting professor at Princeton University, New Jersey, and at the London School of Economics. He is the author of eleven books.
Reviews
'Alexander Somek, at the height of his powers, has already enjoyed a long and distinguished career. He is, unlike most of us, altogether at home in both worlds - the Anglophone world with its myopia and the Continental European world with its vast perspectives but, all too often, with analysis that falls short of the mark. Alexander Somek brings the best of both worlds together, and his manuscript is a welcome effort to redress the balance in favor of, as he puts it, a post-legal positivist theory of law.' Stanley L. Paulson, Washington University, St. Louis
'A mature masterpiece equaling Hart's Concept of Law or Dworkins Law's Empire in jurisprudential ambition, originality and sophistication, The Legal Relation is the most important Continental European contribution to jurisprudence in the new millennium.' Mattias Kumm, Inge Rennert Proffessor of Law at the New York University School of Law and Professor of Global Public Law in the Berlin Social Science Center
'With this bold and provocative book, Somek brilliantly reimagines legal positivism. Every legal philosopher must read this book. The argument is imaginative, penetrating, and ultimately convincing.' Dennis Patterson, Board of Governors Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School, Camden, New Jersey
Book Information
ISBN 9781316648001
Author Alexander Somek
Format Paperback
Page Count 220
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 310g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 12mm
